Interim
Joint Committee on State Government

Minutes
of the<MeetNo1>1st Meeting

Of
the 2009 Interim

<MeetMDY1>August 25, 2009

The<MeetNo2>1st meeting of the Task Force on
Elections, Constitutional Amendments, and Intergovernmental Affairs of the
Interim Joint Committee on State Government was held on<Day>Tuesday,<MeetMDY2>August
25, 2009, at<MeetTime>1:00 PM, in<Room>Room 171 of the Capitol Annex. Senator
Damon Thayer, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the
roll.

The Task Force on Elections, Constitutional Amendments, and
Intergovernmental Affairs held its first 2009 Interim meeting.

Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Sarah Ball Johnson,
Executive Director of the State Board of Elections, gave updates on the new
candidate filing guide, the voting equipment used in each county, and the
maintenance activities on the statewide voter registration database.

First on the agenda Secretary Grayson reported that the
candidate filing guide, titled Declaring Your Candidacy: Ballot Access
Procedural Manual, has been completely updated for the 2010 election cycle.
He noted that his office placed an emphasis on making the updated guide very
user friendly – so that first-time candidates could readily find the
requirements of getting their name on the ballot for any office, especially the
many local offices up for election in 2010. A copy of the manual was provided
to the Committee which can be found in the LRC library.

The second item on the agenda was an update on the voting
equipment used in each county. Secretary Grayson and Ms. Johnson reported that
the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) monies have been widely used by the counties
to update voting equipment. Of particular note was a large change from older
lever voting machines to federally mandated handicap accessible machines and more
modern optical scanner machines, with the number of counties using lever
machines down to 20 (at present) from 87 (as recently as the 2008 Primary).

Representative Clark asked about difficulties in counties
with the new machines. Secretary Grayson said there was a calibration problem
in Hardin County, but that it was corrected and the paper backup confirmed the
results. He also noted that other minor issues occurred due to the unfamiliar
equipment but that these issues were minimal and would likely be eliminated
with familiarity.

Secretary Grayson and Ms. Johnson addressed the final item
on the agenda – voter registration list maintenance activities to the statewide
voter registration database. Secretary Grayson stated that a little more than
118,000 names were removed from the database between October 2006 and October
2008, with deceased registrants and inactive voters making up approximately
108,000 of the total. Secretary Grayson also reported that his office
participated with eight other states in data match projects in 2008 and 2009 to
identify Kentucky voters that have registered to vote in other states, and that
they hope to expand this program in 2010. A copy of the presentation can be
found in the LRC library.

Representative Fischer asked if Kentucky received e-mail
messages from other states regarding duplicate voter registrants. Secretary
Grayson said 7-states share voter data, but that his office is continually working
to increase electronic sharing of voter data.

Chairman Thayer said the next meeting date would be
September 22, 2009 at 1:00 p.m.

Chairman Thayer concluded all Business and the meeting was
adjourned at 2:00 p.m.